Z1 converting VHS Pal videos

[Hugo Daniel Robles]

Hi,
I have some old VHS Pal videos that I would like to convert to DV.
Someone knows what model (U,E,N ) can do that ?
Someone offered me a Z1 "N", and I´m not sure about if it can do the convertion.

Some bad information says that regional sets are the same, but Adam Wilt in his review states there's a Z1U for NTSC countries and a Z1E for PAL.

The Z1 manual, too, in "Connecting to a TV", makes a distinction about Pal and others standards.

Kind regards,

Hugo

[Boyd Ostroff]

Welcome to DVinfo Daniel! The information in the manual is clearly wrong for the Z1 - I think they just copied the same section from their other camcorder manuals. All the different versions of the Z1 can shoot both PAL and NTSC. The differences are things like the language of the menus and the type of power connectors.

As you note, Adam Wilt mentioned some differences in colorspace between the different models, but this has been a topic of some controversy around here with several people insisting there are no differences. I think your Z1 should be able to convert analog PAL video from a VHS VCR to PAL DV without any problem.

It should also be able to convert NTSC VHS tapes to NTSC DV. It cannot, however, convert between PAL and NTSC.

[Hugo Daniel Robles]

Many thanks Boyd !
Kind regards,
Daniel

[Ervin Farkas]

The Z1U can indeed convert analog NTSC video to DV - I am doing that as I'm typing this reply. Use a VCR with S-VHS video output if possible, the picture will be actually cleaner than the original VHS tape. The Z1U does an excellent job in digitizing analog video!